Finding Humanity
by Darth Xeno
Summary: This is a story about a Xenomorph named Shadow, and how he finds humanity. (This is my first fan fiction. So please don't grill me too badly. I do not own aliens no copyright intended). The first chapter is not as good as the others. Some use of Language. (chapter 4)
1. Shadow & Thrasher

Finding humanity

Late afternoon around 8:00pm deep in a Xenomorph hive a young Xenomorph named Thrasher has awoken early.

Looking around to see everyone still asleep, he decided he wanted to go hunting. So he snuck past the queen to get to his favorite and older brother Shadow.

Thrasher woke his brother with a soft hiss. Shadow woke up to see his brother in his face. Shadow groaned than said. "Thrasher… What do you want?"

"Let's go hunting." Thrasher Said trying to get his brother in the mood. Shadow just turned you over to go back to sleep. "Ahhh come on shadow you need the exercise." said Thrasher, like an annoying little brother.

Shadow got up annoyed. "O.K. Trash I'll go hunting with you." Looking like a youngling Thrasher bolted for the hive exit, forgetting to be quite and waking up Skull Cracker.

Shadow stretched his long legs and tail and slowly walked towards the hive exit. As he walked for the exit shadow grumbled. "Oh boy, another fun night with my clumsy brother."

At that Skull Cracker came up from behind him. "You know he's just anxious to learn." Skull Cracker said warmly.

Shadow shook his head and went out of the hive where thrasher was impatiently waiting.

Outside the hive shadow covered his dome. "Thrasher it's still light out! Mother doesn't like it when we go out this early." Shadow complained.

Without skipping a beat Thrasher instantly said "it will be dark soon enough." Shadow glared at Thrasher after about 30 seconds, Shadow finally said. "No wonder I'm so tired we probably slept 4 hours. I'm going back to sleep."

Shadow turned to go back in the hive but, Thrasher quickly blocked his path.

Shadow snarled at his brother "Get out of my way! We can hunt in 3 or 4 hours when we're better rested."

Like a child Thrasher wined "But you said we can go now!" Ignoring his little brother Shadow went back in the hive and thought to himself. "_Whiny little baby"._

"Oh come on Please." Thrasher begged. Shadow stopped to think about it than said, "Fine let's go. I hope mother won't be angry with us."

Thrasher bolted to a tree top and waited for his sleepy brother. Shadow joined him, then asked "were do you want to hunt at?" Thrasher quickly replied "the human's hive."

If Shadow had eyes he would have rolled them. "Of course." Shadow said in a sarcastic tone.

So they started off for the human settlement.

Once they arrived it was indeed dark out, Thrasher was right.

Shadow started his lecture "ok remember what I showed yo-"Thrasher was gone.

"_Oh great he snuck off on me again, just wonderful!" _Shadow thought to himself_. _

Just as Shadow began his search for his brother, he heard some weird noise and decided to investigate.

"It is coming from this structure" shadow concluded.

Shadow quickly found a ventilation shaft leading inside. The sound got louder and stronger and sounded…beautiful. "_What is this place?"_ shadow thought to himself.

Suddenly the noise went soft than nothing "Where did it go? I was so close to finding it." Then suddenly a voice started speaking. Shadow looked around and found the human speaking.

"_What an odd looking human." _Shadow thought to himself. "_He is dressed in all white."_

Than a different sound started it was similar but different "_it's beautiful I've never heard anything like it."_ Shadow was leaning out of the vent to get a better look to get a better look at the humans making such beautiful sounds.

When he heard a scream "A DEMON!" a girl shrieked.

Shadow saw the girl pointing at him."_uh-oh"_ Shadow thought to himself as he ran down the vet and outside.

Not looking where he was going he crashed right into his brother. Thrasher hissed in pain.

"Sorry." Shadow apologized.

"What's the rush?" Thrasher asked.

"I went looking for you and got spotted by some humans." Shadow answered.

Thrasher looked at him stunned. "You… got spotted by humans? How?" thrasher asked.

Shadow didn't answer mainly because it was embarrassing.

Thrasher changed the subject. "I got two Humans!" he said very full of pride.

Shadow just nodded not paying any attention to his brother. He was now very curious on what the humans were doing.

Thrasher broke his line of thought "Hive to, shadow. Are you there, shadow? We have lost you" Thrasher jokes.

Shadow just looked at him and said, "hmm what?"

"Are you ok?" thrasher asked a bit worried.

Shadow stared at thrasher than finally has a responded "yeah I am just sleepy that's all. Don't worry about me I'm fine" Shadow reassured.

"You can go back to the hive with your catch. I want to explore maybe find a new hunting ground." Shadow offers.

Reluctantly Thrasher goes back to the hive leaving Shadow alone.


	2. New friends

Shadow started up the wall of a building, and started to look around for something to hunt.

Before too long Shadow spotted some punk kid who was knocking everybody over while riding his state board. Shadow thought to himself "_he will make for a good host or kill"_ just as Shadow descended down upon his prey, he heard a noise.

Sirens were coming from in front of the odd building. Shadow went to check it out.

Some old, human lady was being loaded into an ambulance.

"That horrible long tail!" The old woman on the gurney yelled. Shadow looked at his tail confused.

Horrible? Yes it was quite intimidating looking, but horrible?

The town police were asking questions like "Can you describe what you seen?" A man frantically yelled. "It was a **DEMON **I tell you! Long spiked tail, huge teeth! It was scary as hell itself!" the man concluded.

Shadow wondered: what was a demon, and what was hell. The cops told them what they seen was a 'Xenomorph'. Then left.

"Well that was scary" the reverend said then went back into the building to lock up, than left in his car. Shadow quickly went inside the now empty building.

Shadow got inside the way he did the first time. This time he went down to the floor making a soft thud.

"_Such a nice feeling in here. I feel at peace, I feel happy I feel…safe."_ Shadow thought as he looked around this large place. "This human is special in some way, he has his face everywhere." Shadow said thinking out loud.

Suddenly Shadow heard the door open.

Quickly going for the ceiling and out of sight. The reverend walked right under Shadow and did not even notice.

"Don't you hate it when you forget something" the reverend said to himself

"_Maybe this human can give me answers." _Shadow thought as he quietly jumped to the floor.

The reverend turned around to see the 'demon' standing there. Unable to react he just froze in fear as the thing slowly walked up to him.

"_That's odd. Why doesn't he run or scream?"_ Shadow thought to himself

"H-h-hello" the reverend started terrified

Shadow tipped his head at this.

The reverend now backing up from fear "Why are you here?" he asked

Shadow pointed 1 of his long claws at a picture of Jesus.

"Jesus Christ." The human answered looking confused "you want to know more about him?" the reverend asked starting to calm down.

Shadow wasn't about to throw away a chance to learn about this place so he nodded.

"_I don't believe it! This thing understands me." _The reverend thought very excited. Then began to tell the story of Jesus.

Several hours went by. Both the reverend and Shadow moved from the center of the church, to one of the church pews. Shadow was now starting to grasp this, son of God.

Suddenly the reverend's cell rang which scared Shadow. Shadow got back in a defensive stance. The reverend quickly took the cell out of his pocket and showed it to shadow. Than answered it. "Hi honey."

Shadow was now perplexed. Who was he talking to? He spun around to see the room, no one else was here. At that he heard a voice come from the thing in reverends hand "I was getting worried about you. Are you ok?" Shadow heard the voice say.

"No, I'm fine. I'm just at the church. I'll be home soon…I think." Reverend said to this odd little box.

Once again the box spoke "ok. Don't be out too late. I love you."

"I love you too, bye honey" said reverend than closed the lid on the device, than slid it back in his pocket.

"I got to get home… do you have a name?" reverend asked Shadow.

Quickly thinking on how to tell him what my names was sense he lacked the ability to speak. Quickly he pointed to his shadow.

"You're…Shadow" the human figured out quickly.

Shadow nodded.

"I'm Slade, Rev. Slade nice to meet you, Shadow."

Shadow did not want to let Rev. Slade leave just yet, but felt tired, so he decided to let him go

Shadow bowed his head and turned for the open ventilation shaft.

30 minutes later Shadow thought of something on the way back to the hive. How did he understand the human? How did he know how to nod & point? There was one other thing. He was going back to the hive with nothing. How was he going to explain what he was doing all night?

**Rev. Slade. I don't know how I came up with that I think I heard the name in a movie once. Well Shadow met a new friend. Please review. Ideas are welcome.**


	3. explanations

Rev. Slade

Now leaving the church, Rev. Slade was now very jumpy as he walked for his car. Just as he was about to get in. A police officer came up.

"Are you all right, reverend?" the cop asked, scaring Slade nearly to death.

"AHH! Oh you scared me almost to death!" Slade said in a matter of fact tone.

"Sorry. I noticed you were looking around. Like you thought you're being followed." The cop said.

"No just jumpy. Say, what did you say we spotted tonight?" Slade asked the cop.

"A Xenomorph?" the cop asked

"Yes that can you spell it for me." Slade asked nicely.

"Certainly, X-E-N-O-M-O-R-P-H." the cop finished.

"Thank you. Have a good evening, sir." Slade said as he got in his car

The cop replied "You too reverend, have a safe journey."

Reverend just nodded as he started his car and drove off.

Back home Slade noticed everyone had gone to bed. So he went for the computer and started it up to looked up these 'Xenomorphs'. One web page to another. All saying the same thing:" ruthless killers… Show no remorse… Invasive… Hard to kill… Cannot be tamed… Only care about the queen and their hive." Finally Slade's wife came down to find him in the computer room.

"Honey it's late come to bed." She said trying to coax him to come with her to the bedroom.

He heard her just not what she said." You know sweetie they say xenomorphs are just mindless killers."

At that she started to close the web pages 1 right after another until she closed about 30 web sites.

"Come on." As she pulled her very tired husband away from the computer.

He gently rubbed her shoulder than said. "I'm on my way I just need a drink of water."

After he gotten a drink he went up to his room, where his wife was waiting.

"You seem off tonight. Do you want to talk" she asked

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Slade said as he started to laugh. Hardly believing it himself.

"You can tell me anything." Slade's wife offered sweetly.

"Well I'll tell you. Just don't laugh." He said in a serious tone.

Now looking at him with full seriousness, his wife was completely listening. "Go ahead I'm here for you."

Slade began "Have you ever heard of a Xenomorph?"

Shadow

Shadow was slowly walking back to the hive. Just thinking about what happened tonight. Why did he like that human? He couldn't figure it out. Only 200ft from the cave which lead to his hive, he spotted a mountain lion. Quickly he pounced and knocked it out.

"Well looks like I'm not going back to the hive empty handed." He said to himself feeling relieved.

He pulled the animal back to the hive where he was frantically greeted by his brothers and sisters.

"Shadow! Thank mother you are still alive!" Thrasher said very happy

Skull Cracker came up and said. "We thought you finally got killed by one of the humans."

"He almost did!" Thrasher said trying to embarrass his older brother.

Shadow looked at his brother and said. "Shut up." There was laughter throughout the hive.

"What did you get? Surely more than 1 animal? You were out for all those hours." Scar said in a joking tone.

Shadow confessed about how he did not feel like hunting tonight and he found a new hunting ground. (This was not a lie, he was hunting for knowledge.)

Thrasher changed the subject "mother is MAD at us. She wants to see you as soon as you got back."

Oh great, Thrasher just got him in _more_ trouble. "I told you it was too early and we would get it!" Shadow yelled at his brother. This made the hive laugh.

10 min later.

"_Oh Shadow what am I going to do with you and Thrasher?" _The queen said to Shadow with telepathy.

"_This is not the first time you two snuck out, and this time __**you**__ came back late, which worried us all."_ The queen lectured.

After a long pause she finally said. _"I will let this slide just once. Don't do it again! Dismissed."_

Shadow turned to go to his favorite spot to sleep at in the hive when Thrasher came up. "Hey you want to-. " But was cut off by Shadow "NO! You have gotten me in enough trouble for one night."

Getting on the wall to go to sleep for the day Thrasher could sense something was on his mind. "Are you ok, Shadow?" Thrasher asked sweetly.

Shadow answered "I will tell you about it tomorrow night if you let me sleep."

"_Tell me about what?"_ Thrasher wondered to himself but thought it was best to leave his brother alone.

Back to Slade

"So let me get this straight: A friendly Xenomorph named 'Shadow', wanted to learn more about God?" Slade's wife did not believe this.

"I know it is hard to believe, but I know what I seen, he was there." Trying to convince his wife of the truth.

After thinking about it for a few minutes Slade's wife finally said "Ok I believe you… Just do me a favor…"

Slade knew what she was going to say but asked. "Sure anything" he said

"…Don't tell anyone else about this. Ok?" She asked

Slade nodded "I won't" he said honestly.

"Thanks for listening. At least I can sleep now." Said Slade, as he turned over and fell asleep.


	4. The Marines Shadow & Thrasher II

**Authors note: I realize this story is a bit on the light side. So I'm going to boost it up with some hard language, And some new enemies. Enjoy and please review.**

United Systems Colonial Marines HQ

"All right listen up!" General Monroe spoke real loud to get everyone's attention." Sergeant Hicks has his report! Go ahead Sergeant." General Monroe said and stepped back.

Sergeant Hicks starts his speech. "We have confirmation of a Xenomorph infestation. Three reports have been made out this week so far. Now I have personal experience with these things. So listen up! They are very dangerous predators with concentrated acid for blood, so hit your targets at a distance."

A man yelled. "If the fuckers bleed they can be killed!" the room broke out in cheers, and laughter.

"**ARE YOU DONE?!" **Sergeant Hicks yelled so loud the room got quiet in 2 seconds.

Sergeant Hicks resumed his speech

"They are born killers which took out my whole squad in less than 36 hours. They wiped out 157 colonists on LV-426. So DO NOT I repeat do not take these fuckers lightly! They will kill you if they get a chance.

Hicks took a long pause to let the message sink in, and then resumed.

"Do not give them that chance! Once they have you, you're fucked."

Hicks then started on how to kill them the quickest way possible. "They do however have one weakness: fire. They hate fire, so flame units are highly recommended."

Sergeant Hicks concluded with taking questions. "Now if any one has any questions, now is the time to ask them."

A marine raised his hand.

Hicks called him "Yes private, what is it?"

The marine asked a smart ass question "Were can I get some real fucking weapons Sarg"

General Monroe cut in. "You keep that disrespectful mouth shut Private!"

Hicks started on the Private. "Funny thing, Private Hudson asked a similar question. He asked 'How do I get out of this chicken shit outfit.' You know where he is?"

The Private replied "no"

"He is dead" Sergeant Hicks said rather grimly "don't be arrogant or you could be dead too." Hicks warned.

"Any other questions?" Hicks asked.

No one said a word.

"Good, let me show you who is going with me."

Hicks pressed a button on the consol and a picture of a women appeared.

"Cpl. Teresa Aquila: master marksman.

Lieutenant Hard-case: smart gun front lines

Fireball: master pilot

PFC az-99: master sniper (az-99 is a newer combat android ready for his first mission)

PFC ax-95: master technician (can repair anything)

Katya: Master Medic "

Hicks listed all 6 others who were going with him; he knew they were all ready.

"The shuttle was taking is the _BLOCADE. _She is a fine ship that will get the job done.

Once again General Monroe started "I want that ship ready to go by 08:15. MOVE IT!"

Meanwhile,

Shadow woke up and decided to stretch his legs. (The time was 4:30am.)

"_I've never been out in broad daylight._ " Shadow thought to himself.

"I'm feeling…bad. I think I'm going to get Thrasher." He said thinking out loud.

Shadow nudged Thrash to wake him up "w…what" Thrasher woke up.

"Shadow are you ok?" Thrasher asked his brother.

Shadow said "I want to go for a walk… in the daylight, and I want you to come with me."

Thrasher replied "Mother will be VERY angry with us…Let's go!"

Both of them now well on their way to the human town and the sun was now rising.

35 minutes later they arrived to this now very active town. "Boy look at all the humans!" Thrasher said getting hungry. At that Thrasher went to bolt for the nearest.

Shadow grabbed him by his tail and pulled him back than asked. "Are you stupid?! You are going to get yourself killed!"

"Sorry got excited" Thrasher said like a kid in a candy store.

"Well stifle your excitement. Use your brain… for once." Shadow said. Shadow started to sneak to the back of a building. Then climbed up the wall to get to the roof.

Thrasher was not far behind." Say where are we going Shadow?" Thrasher asked. "You'll see soon enough." Shadow answered as he jumped from rooftop to rooftop.

Finally Shadow made it to where he was taking his little brother. "We're here!" Shadow said excited.

"Where is 'here,' Shadow?" Thrasher asked him sarcastically.

Not answering him, he just went through the vent to get in the church. Shadow looked around to see no one was around. Then dropped to the floor like last night.

"Why did you bring me here, Shadow?" Thrasher asked getting impatient.

"Don't you feel it?" Shadow asked his brother.

"Feel what?" Thrasher asked now getting annoyed.

"The good feeling. Don't you feel anything?" Shadow asked, trying to get through to his brother.

"I got the feeling you lost your mind." Thrasher said in a joking tone.

"You…can't sense it?" Shadow asked disappointed

Thrasher just looked at him blankly than said "I got a feeling we should not be here. A feeling that we should be out hunting."

Shadow was now feeling sad. He had found something incredible, and his brother can't see it like he could.

"What do you feel?" Thrasher asked him.

"I…I can't describe it. It is a very powerful felling of happiness." Shadow said to his brother.

Thrasher looked around "Who is this human?" he thought out loud.

"Jesus Christ" Shadow answered

This took Thrasher by surprise "You know who he is? Where is he?" Thrasher was now interested.

Shadow answered "he is in heaven. I know him, but not as well as I would like. (That slipped out). He is the son of God, a very good man." Shadow started but stopped when he spotted Rev. Slade.

"He can tell you." Shadow informed Thrasher.

"WHAT?! Did you say?" Thrasher yelled.

This loud screech scared Rev. Slade. Now he saw not one, but two xenomorphs in his church.

"UH-OH, that human spotted us. Get him before he screams!" Thrasher yelled and went to go for him. But Shadow stopped him dead in his tracks.

"Don't! He is not going to hurt you!" Shadow said to his brother, trying to calm him down.

"Have you gone insane?! Fine, you stay and get killed. Bye, bye!" Thrasher bolted for the vent and was gone before Shadow could say another word.

The reverend slowly walked up to shadow and asked "S-S-Shadow, is that you, I hope."

Shadow nodded. He was happy to see his human friend recognized him.

"Was that was one of your brothers or sisters?" Rev. Slade asked.

Once again Shadow nodded.

"Well I'm glad you came by. I wanted to give you something if I saw you again.

Shadow was confused, this human wanted to give him something. But why?

Reverend reached in his pocket and pulled out a crucifix. Like the one he had on.

"It shows that you believe in God and have faith in him"

Shadow took it and looked at. It was a nice cross but not too decorative. Shadow liked it.

"Let me help you with that." At that Rev. Slade put it around his neck. It fit, just barely.

Shadow felt weird but liked it at the same time.

At that Shadow looked at Rev. Slade and telepathically thanked him. This scared Slade a bit. Now he could understand Shadow.

_You…heard me? _Shadow asked telepathically.

"Yes I did & do!" said Rev. Slade, very excited.

**Well a different twist. Now the story is going to start to get heated with shadow and his brothers.**

**Not to mention the Marines. Please review.**


	5. Retribution

"This is amazing!" Reverend said with a hint of disbelief.

"_Yes it is. I would love to stay and talk but I got to catch my brother, Thrasher." _Shadow said telepathically.

After running for about 10 Minutes Shadow caught up to his brother. "Thash, wait! I can explain."

"By all means explain. I want to hear this one." Thrasher said.

Shadow started "Look I know you are upset. But hear me out. That human knows a lot. And it's very interesting."

Thrasher cut him off "we can't understand them. How is that interesting?"

"It's interesting because..." Shadow started, but realized what Thrasher had said. "Did you say you can't understand them?" Shadow asked Thrasher shocked.

"None of us can! So don't pretend that you can." Thrasher said in an angry tone.

"But I can understand them, and they can understand me when I use Telepathy." Shadow explained.

"Yeah right, sure, whatever!" Thrasher said annoyed

"Thrasher, please come back with me to the church. I can prove it."

After a long pause Thrasher lost the anger and started to challenge Shadow.

"Good luck with that. I won't be convinced easily." Thrasher said.

Shadow beginning to feel hopeful asked. "So will you come with me Thrasher?"

"Fine, if you swear this won't get me killed." Thrasher reluctantly said.

"I swear you will be safe." Shadow reassured.

So they went back to the church where Rev. Slade was still waiting.

"Shadow you're back with your brother, I see." Rev. Slade was happy to see Shadow had convinced his brother to come back.

"_Yes, Thrasher can't understand you, so I must translate for him."_ Shadow informed Slade

"Hmm that's curious. Well what do you want to teach him about today?" Rev. Slade asked Shadow as they moved for the nearest pew.

"_The story of Jesus Christ."_ Shadow said. He wanted to hear the story again anyways.

One hour went by, and Thrasher had fallen asleep twice.

"Like a big kid" Rev. Slade joked.

Just as Shadow was about to wake Thrasher back up. Another Xenomorph jumped out of the vent and roared.

"What are you two **IDIOTS** doing?!" It was Skull Cracker and he did not like what he was seeing.

Thrasher woke up and quickly pointed at Shadow and said. "He made me do it!"

If Shadow had eyes he would have rolled them. But now Shadow had to talk Skull Cracker down.

"Listen" Shadow started but was cut off by Skull Cracker.

"I don't want to hear it! I'm going to mother about this, but first that human must die!"

Shadow was not going to let Skull Cracker hurt his friend. But did not want to fight his brother.

"Thrasher how about a little help here?" Shadow turned to his brother.

Thrasher did not want to get in more trouble that he was in, but also did not want to stab his brother in the back. So he had to make up his mind.

"Come on Skull Cracker, no need to get mad about this." Thrasher started but stopped when Skull Cracker gave him a very deadly look.

"If you won't kill this thing I will!" Skull Cracker warned.

"_Reverend run!" _Shadow telepathically said to Slade.

"I will not let you." Shadow said holding his ground

At that Rev. Slade took off running.

Skull Cracker went to go for him, but Shadow hit him with his tail, knocking him on his back. Thrasher just started to creep back and away from a now enraged Skull Cracker.

"I'm going to kill you, Shadow!" Skull Cracker screamed.

Than the fight was on.

Shadow pounced while his brother was down, but got kicked off and slammed into a wall. Skull Cracker charged at Shadow with all the speed he could gain, and then slammed him clean through the wall, nearly killing his brother. Shadow quickly recovered and got up. Shadow clawed Skull Cracker in the gut than vanished in a dark alley.

"You can't hide forever! I do have you brother you know?" Skull Cracker said coldly.

At that Shadow flew out of nowhere and slammed his brother in to a wall, and sent him crashing through. Without hesitation, Shadow kicked his brother in the face trying to knock him out.

Skull Cracker tried to hit his brother in the legs with his tail, but Shadow was quicker and stopped the attack with his own tail. Without wasting a second Shadow went for the back of Skull Crackers head and slapped it with his tail. Knocking him out.

Thrasher came up "WHAT DID YOU JUST DO?! "

Shadow replied "I did not kill him, just knocked him out."

"You attacked him!" Thrasher said

"He attacked my friend! What was I supposed to do, Thrash?" Shadow answered, and asked.

"Uh… let him kill the human!" Thrasher answered.

Shadow was now getting angry with Thrasher.

"Don't you get it? He is my friend. I won't stand by and watch someone kill him." Shadow said to Thrasher in an angry tone.

"And HE is your brother!" Thrasher yelled trying to get through to his brother.

"My 'brother' tried to kill my friend and then me!" Shadow yelled back.

"You're dead meat Shadow. Mother is going to kill you for this!" said Skull Cracker now awake.

"Let's go see her right now than!" Shadow said not afraid.

So all three Xenomorphs started back to the hive where the queen was waiting for them.

Once they got out of town the Marines had arrived. "Set up these Xeno detectors NOW!" Sergeant Hicks ordered.

"We wait for any of the Xeno-fuckers to come into this town. When they come, we ambush them!" Hicks said.

"They took out the ship by sending one on board. So keep the ship in orbit." Hicks ordered

"Yes sir" Fireball said.

"Now we wait." Hicks said and switched his com off.

"Zoe, I tell you he came back!" Slade said with a lot of excitement in his voice.

"Honey, it is very hard for me to believe that a Xenomorph didn't kill you, but actually talked to you." She said.

"Like I said the 3rd one that came in wanted to kill me but."Slade started but was cut off by his wife.

"Than 'Shadow' told you to run than they got into a fight." Zoe finished Slade's Sentence.

Slade gave up "well I want to go out for a little while. Maybe go for a walk. Do you want to come?"

Zoe thought about it for a second than answered. "Ok I could use some fresh air."

"Great!" Slade said happy.

Shadow, Skull Cracker, and Thrasher all just arrived at the hive were the queen was waiting.

"Mother, I found Shadow and Thrasher!" Skull Cracker yelled.

"Where have you two been?" the queen asked in a serious tone.

"Oh it's not that bad. They were only hanging out with a human!" Skull Cracker said outraged.

"What?" The queen asked with a bit of laughter in her voice.

"It's true." Thrasher confessed.

The queen looked at Shadow than asked. "Is it?"

Shadow just nodded.

The queen looked at him with a look like 'I hope this would never happen'.

"Skull Cracker, Thrasher, I want to speak with Shadow alone." The queen said in a nice tone.

After they were gone, the queen started in telepathy. _"Shadow, I know what this is all about"_

"You…you do?" Shadow asked.

The queen nodded and said _"I hoped this would not happen, but it did."_

The queen now had Shadows full attention. "What do you mean? Hoped what wouldn't happen?"

"_I never told you this but, you were genetically modified. The humans thought you were unsuccessful." _The queen elaborated.

This explains how Rev. Slade could communicate with Shadow. Why Shadow cared about him, and why he was so different.

"So that is why I'm so different." Shadow said feeling enlightened.

"What will you do with me, mother?" Shadow asked feeling worried.

The queen said something she thought she would never say. _"I don't know."_

The queen thought, and after about 15 minutes she finally said out loud. "I give you two choices Shadow: 1st give me that thing around neck, and never see that human again, and I will overlook what happened today."

Shadow felt his crucifix in a worried way

"2nd I will banish you from the hive. You will never be welcome back again."

Shadow did not like his choices, but he had to choose.

Thrasher started to spy when he heard Shadows options. Thrasher hoped Shadow would hand over that weird thing on that was hanging from his neck.

"Well Shadow, I'm waiting." The queen said sternly.

After what felt like forever Shadow finally took a deep breath and said. "Good bye, Mother."

Thrasher was stunned. Shadow chose humanity over his own family. "Shadow, I can't believe this!" Thrasher said.

"Thrasher, show him out." The queen ordered.

Thrasher obeyed, and escorted Shadow out of the hive.

"Good bye, everyone" Shadow said as he was escorted throw the hive.

Shadow, and Thrasher where now outside of the hive. Shadow said only one thing before he disappeared in the wilderness. "Good bye, Thrash."


	6. Freedom

"I can't believe he is gone." Thrasher said depressed.

"I know you were close to him, but he was a bad influence on you Thrash." Skull Cracker said in a normal tone.

After a long pause Thrasher said "He was just learning about the enemy. Is that so bad?"

"Don't kid yourself. He was becoming one of them." Skull Cracker said.

Thrasher was sad to see his brother go, but Skull Cracker had a point. He was now really confused on how he felt about all of this. Was he happy to see Shadow go, or sad? He just didn't know.

"Come, let's go hunting. Maybe mother will let us go given the circumstance." Skull Cracker said to Thrasher

Thrasher said "ok." So they both went to the queen to ask if they could go out.

1:00pm just a few miles from the town.

Shadow moved from treetop to treetop at a quick pace. He was unsure about how he felt about being exiled. Was he happy about it, or not?

Shadow finally got in the town when he heard an older woman ask "So can anyone tell us where we are on the map?" Shadow followed the sound of the voice to a window. What he saw mystified him.

A kid was pointing to a spot on a colorful map. "Very good" the woman spoke again

"_Why does she have all of those younglings with her? Is she like a human queen?" _Shadow asked himself.

After about 2 hours of talking about the map, all the kids got up at the sound of a bell. "Remember class, we test on this tomorrow."

The class answered all at once "Yes, Mrs. Wilson."

Than all the kids where gone.

Shadow quickly snuck in the open window now that no one was there to see him go in.

"_Mrs. Wilson?" _Shadow asked telepathically

Mrs. Wilson turned around than asked "Yes?" But started screaming when she saw Shadow

"The demon is in the school!" she frantically yelled.

"_I'm not a demon."_ Shadow told her calmly.

"Stay away, monster!" She said as she picked up a yard stick.

Shadow just took it out of her hand like nothing.

She went to run for the door, but Shadow blocked her path.

"_I'm not going to hurt you!" _Shadow said trying to calm her down.

She started to back away; as she did she slipped on a marker that had fallen on the floor.

Shadow bolted to catch her, and help her keep her balance.

"Don't touch me!" Mrs. Wilson yelled as she pushed Shadow away.

Shadow decided to change his tactics, so he backed off giving Mrs. Wilson some space.

She began to study Shadow, and clam down.

Finally she asked "What do you want?"

Shadow answered coolly _"Knowledge."_

"_How much is there in this world? How do I get to it?"_ Shadow asked with a bit more excitement.

Mrs. Wilson started "Well there is a lot in this world, and there is many ways to get around."

"_How"_ Shadow asked

"Well there are cars, trains, boats, star ships, and air planes." Mrs. Wilson answered.

Shadow than asked _"How do I use them? What do they look like?"_

"Oh boy, how did I get myself in to this?" Mrs. Wilson asked herself.

After about 45 minutes Shadow, was now starting to grasp transportation.

"_One more question, Are you a queen or something? Why do you have so many younglings with you?"_ Shadow asked innocently.

Mrs. Wilson started to turn red out of embarrassment.

Shadow was now really confused. He did not understand why she was changing colors, so he asked. "_Are you feeling alright?"_

Mrs. Wilson finally answered "Y-yeah." Mrs. Wilson paused than resumed "I'm no queen, I just teach."

Shadow just gawked at her, after a few minutes Shadow finally said "_Humans are very strange to me."_

This made Mrs. Wilson giggle.

"Do you have a name?" Mrs. Wilson asked.

"_I'm Shadow."_ Shadow simply answered

Mrs. Wilson looked at the clock than said. "Oh, it's getting late Shadow, I got to go."

Shadow nodded and left the way he went in. He didn't get his answer on why she had all of those younglings.

Shadow walked for about 10 minutes. Then suddenly a strange box started beeping when he passed by it, suddenly Hicks appeared throw a door with a flame thrower.

"Die you son-of-a-bitch!" Hicks yelled as he fired it.

Shadow quickly got out of the way before the flame hit him.

Hicks went after Shadow with no fear, when suddenly there was an earthquake.

Hicks lost his balance, and fell off the side of the building just as the quake came to an end.

"Oh shit!" Hicks yelled as he dangled from the side of the building.

Shadow knew he could not leave the man just hanging there, so he went to the side of the building and extended his claws to him.

Hicks would not grab on to Shadow's clawed hand.

"_Grab on!" _Shadow yelled to him telepathically

"What the fuck?! Did you just talk?" Hicks asked in surprise.

Shadow did not answer his question, and also did not have all day. So he leaned forward, and grabbed Hicks by both of his hands, and pulled him up to the ledge.

Hicks went go for his pistol out of impulse, but by the time he got it Shadow disappeared.

Hicks looked all around than put his pistol away.

A voice came over his radio "Sergeant, are you ok? "

"I'm fine Teresa. The Xenomorph got away." Hicks answered, than spoke again. "That was weird. That thing did not kill me."

"What do you mean?" Teresa asked

After a brief pause Hicks said with shock in his voice. "I'll elaborate later."

1 hour later

Shadow just arrived to his favorite spot in the town …The church.

"_Reverend, are you here?" _ Shadow asked telepathically in a friendly tone.

At that Rev. Slade came out of his office "Shadow, nice to see you buddy."

"_I have been kicked out of the hive."_ Shadow said.

Rev. Slade was shocked, so he asked Shadow "Why?"

"_I'm too different. I see and hear things they don't, and it scares them…I think."_

Shadow explained.

"Oh shadow, I'm so sorry." Slade said

"_Don't be…I'm actually happy about it. I'm FREE!"_ Shadow told Slade very happily

"_Free to explorer the world, and all it haves to offer. Free to do what I want. Most importantly, I'm free to be myself." _ Shadow said feeling enlightened.

"I'm glad to hear you're happy Shadow. What will you do?"

Shadow was about to answer when he heard a scream, It was Zoe. She ran out the door in a panic.

"That's my wife, I got to get her and calm her down." Rev. Slade informed Shadow.

Rev. Slade went out the door at a quick pace to catch up to her. Zoe was getting in her car and ready to leave.

"Honey stop!" Slade yelled to her trying to get her attention.

"Quickly, get in!" Zoe yelled.

"Honey, that's Shadow." Slade told her in a hushed tone.

Zoe just stared at Slade like he lost his mind.

"Come back to the church with me." Slade offered

Very reluctantly Zoe got out of the car, and went with her husband.

Shadow was waiting for his friend to come back.

Zoe was watching Shadow very closely.

"He is not going to hurt you." Rev. Slade reassured.

Once again Slade spoke. "Shadow, this is my wife Zoe. Zoe, this is my friend Shadow.

"_You're wife? What's that?" _ Shadow asked.

Rev. Slade was dumbstruck, how was he going to explain this to him.

"Well Shadow it's like this." Rev. Slade began to explain.

45 minutes later.

Slade did his best to explain, but Shadow was lost.

"_I'll probably understand better later." _Shadow gave up.

Zoe was now very bored, and was wishing Shadow would kill her.

"Well, where will you go shadow?" Slade asked

"_I'm not sure. I'll probably find a cave or something." _Shadow did not put any thought into it.

"You can stay at our house for a little while if you want." Rev. Slade offered

Zoe however, did not like this idea one bit. "Oh, no! No way is he staying at our house!"

"_It's ok" _Shadow said to both Zoe and Rev. Slade.

"_I think I need to get going, so I can find a place to sleep."_ Shadow told Slade.

Shadow turned to leave, and went out the normal way he came in and out.

USCM nerve center

"I don't believe it myself, but it talked, and saved me." Hicks said trying to convince his squad.

"I don't know, Sargent. The go pro is questionable. No one heard a thing." Teresa said.

Hicks nodded than asked "By the way. Why did that building shake? What happened?"

"We don't know." Teresa answered honestly.

"Have any other Xeno detectors gone off today?" Hicks asked

Everyone shook their heads no.

"Wait 1 minute, back that up."

Ax-95 started to rewind the video and what Hicks saw surprised everyone.

"Am I the only one who is seeing this?" Hicks asked everyone was in disbelief

"It's wearing a crucifix, just like Fireballs." Teresa said with shock in her voice.

Sergeant Hicks finally said "I want that one captured if we can. Let's see if we can find it."

Meanwhile.

Shadow found an abounded hotel and decided to check it out.

"Hmm no one is here. This will be sufficient for a few nights." Shadow thought out loud.

Just as Shadow crawled into an old ventilation shaft he heard objects clanging around. At that a man walked by with an old sack over his shoulder.

"Ugh I'm so sick of this. I wish I had someone to talk to, someone like me who understands what it's like to be kicked out of your home. Only because you're a bit different." The younger homeless man grumbled to himself.

Shadow felt the same exact way, so he thought he would introduce himself. This time he did it differently. He stayed where he was and started talking to the man with telepathy _"I know your pain I was exiled too." _

"Who's there? Show yourself!" the man said with fear in his voice.

"_If I do don't scream. OK?" _Shadow replied

"Just show yourself." The man said again.

Shadow simply said _"OK."_ And crawled out of the vent. "_Here I am" _

"Where?" the man asked.

"_Right behind you." _Shadow said

The man turned around but did not scream.

"What the fuck are you?" the man asked in an awe struck tone

"_A Xenomorph, But I'm not like the others."_ Shadow said

The man sat down to start his nightly fire. Shadow watched with amazement as the man hit two rocks together to cause a spark, and ignite the paper.

"I'm Frank. Who are you?" the man asked

"_I'm Shadow."_ Shadow answered.


	7. Steak Dinner

**Hello readers, I'm sorry it took me this long to update. My grandma got sick and ended up in the hospital. So I had no time to write.**

**Also thank you for the reviews.**

Frank finally got his fire started after about five minutes. Shadow just quietly stood by and watched in amazement.

"How did you do that with those two rocks?" Shadow asked Frank with awe in his mental voice.

Frank smiled at Shadow like he was like he was a young kid. "It took years of practice. And you need the right rocks to make a spark with. Plus you need something to catch the spark."

Frank reached into his pocket and pulled out two piece of cotton. "Watch closely." Frank said as he held the rocks in a specific angle and quickly hit the rocks together igniting one of the pieces of the cotton.

Shadow watch closely with amazement. "Why would you need to make a fire anyways?" Shadow finally asked.

"So I can see." Frank answered coolly.

Shadow was now confused. Why could he not see without fire?

Before Shadow could ask another question, Frank began to talk again. "Plus I need to cook my dinner. Can't do that without fire."

"Cook?" Shadow asked.

At that, Frank took out a piece of raw meat than said with laughter in his voice "yep I can't eat this raw."

Shadow was now dumb struck. He watched Frank take out a medal rack and place it over the fire than place the meat on it.

Frank began to hum as he took out a large fork, knife, spoon, and a smaller fork. Frank felt happy to have some company. Even if it was not what he expected.

At the same time Shadow was wondering what Frank was doing. Taking those odd things out of his bag, and making that weird sound.

After about five minutes the meat began to sizzle and pop and make noises.

"Oh time to flip it!" Frank said with excitement in his voice as he stabbed the meat with the big knife.

"Why are you doing this?" Shadow asked.

"I'm cooking this. I can't eat it raw." Frank answered.

Shadow was now confused so he asked "what's cook? And what's raw."

Frank looked at Shadow blankly. He was unsure how to answer, but then finally started

"The meat I just showed you was not cooked so it was raw. So I can't eat it. Cooking is what I'm doing to it now. So it is safe for me to eat."

Shadow was lost. "Why would it not be safe to eat? It looked good the way it was"

Frank began to explain about how it was full of bacteria that could be fatal to him, and how it tasted better when cooked.

Shadow did not fully understand.

"_He is quite a curious thing._" Frank thought to himself, he liked it. He liked Shadow.

"It's done!" Frank said as he started to put the steak on a bunch of paper plates.

"_It does have an intriguing smell."_ Shadow thought to himself.

Frank started to cut the steak into a bunch of small pieces than looked up at Shadow and said. "Do you want to try a piece?"

Shadow didn't know. It did smell good but it was strange to him to eat burned meat.

At that Frank placed a large piece of the steak on a separate plate and placed it in front of Shadow.

Shadow reluctantly picked up the piece of meat and bit it with his second set of jaws.

"_Wow I've never tasted anything like this before."_ Shadow thought to himself. Shadow didn't think he would like it but he did. Now he understood why Frank cooked it like he did.

"You like it?" Frank asked in a friendly tone.

"It's wonderful! I've never tasted anything like it." Shadow answered.

"I knew you would." Frank said with happiness in his voice.

After about 3 minutes Shadow started to ask some questions. "So why are you here? Don't humans have houses?"

Frank stopped eating. His happy expression turned into sadness.

"That is a long story Shadow." Frank answered

After a long pause Shadow started to speak again.

"Were you kicked out of your hive like me?" Shadow innocently asked.

Shadow's question made Frank chuckle.

"You could say that." Frank answered

"You really want to know?" Frank asked.

Shadow nodded. He was very curious on why Frank was here.

"Well, I'll tell you." Frank said.


	8. Kindred Spirits

**1,000 views! I honestly didn't think my story would be that popular. My grandma is well on her way to a full recovery so I can start writing more often.**

**Once again: Thanks for the reviews.**

"It all began a few days ago. When I had a family, and had a house." Frank began his story.

**Flash back, three days earlier.**

Frank was sitting on the couch watching an antique show.

At that Fred walked into the room and looked down at his older brother. "Frank, why are you always so depressed? Look around you! You got a 70 inch TV sitting in front of you, a big mansion, and lots of friends. Need I go on?"

Frank sat quietly for a minute, and then finally said. "Yeah. I have everything, I don't need anything, but yet I feel…so empty." Frank answered

Fred decided he needed to get Frank out of the house for a little while. "Come on lets go for a walk. That always helps me when I'm down."

Frank picked up the remote and shut the TV off. "Alright. I'm bored anyways."

One hour later.

"Ah, Golden Gate Park! Isn't this just a beautiful?" Frank said happily.

"Yeah, I know how you love nature so I thought I would bring you here." Fred said like he was so cleaver.

Frank and Fred started to walk, but did not make it very far before Frank saw something that enraged him.

A Beaver Logging sign.

Frank just got a look of pure anger in his eye. "I hate that company! I can't believe that those murders want to log here!"

At that Fred put his hand on Frank's shoulder. "Calm down, they have not logged here yet."

Frank started to cool off a bit but not before he said. "If I ever meet the owner of that logging company I'd give him a piece of my mind! And I bet he would choke on it!"

"I'm sure he would." Fred said in a sarcastic tone

They went for a long walk and Frank was feeling better.

2 ½ hours later.

Frank and Fred got home. "Hey Frank I got to go. I promised my girl I would meet her at her place of work." Fred said honestly

Frank just nodded than said. "Ok have fun on your date. It was fun hanging out with you, thanks for the time together.

Frank walked in his family house and shut the door behind him.

"Is that you Frank?" a voice yelled from the kitchen

"Yes mom!" Frank answered.

At that Frank's mother came out of the kitchen. "Hey my hands are full with making dinner. Could you take this to your dad's office?" Franks mother asked

Without saying a word Frank took the pack of papers and went upstairs to his dad's office.

Frank was now at the door he decided to be polite and knock. There was no answer, so Frank decided to just go in.

The room was dark, creepy, and full of expensive antiques.

Frank started to laugh as he said. "It's just like a villain's lair in here."

Frank walked over to the desk and but the pack of papers down on the desk. Just as he did a bunch of stuff fell off and hit the floor.

"Oh, damn!" Frank cursed as he started to gather up ever thing that fell to the floor.

Frank had almost gotten everything when he found a pack that had the 'Beaver Logging' logo on it.

"What's this?" Frank asked to himself, as he opened the envelope and began to read the contents contained inside of it.

"What?" Frank asked out loud as he read the letter inside

"This can't be true! My father is the CEO of Beaver Logging?" Frank was now very upset.

Frank began to look throw the other files and what he found next really made him angry.

"This just gets worse and worse. My mother is the CFO of this company?! This can't be!"

Frank grabbed the files and stashed them in his room, and turned on the TV to calm down.

Two hours later.

Frank was barely picking at his dinner.

At that Robert, asked him "Are you alright, my son?"

Frank ignored him, so Robert tried again "Frank, are you ok?"

This time Frank looked up and just shook his head.

"Would you like to talk?" Robert asked

"NO!" Frank yelled. Than started to speak again. "I don't want to talk to you. If I did I would ask!"

Now everyone at the table was staring at him in shock. It wasn't like him to yell.

Frank got up and went to his room without saying another word.

Robert got up to follow him so he could find out what's wrong. "Frank, stop! Please just talk to me."

Frank had raw emotions and was in no mood to talk, but still complied. "Why? What do you have to say?"

Robert started "What's bothering you, Frank? What's wrong?"

Frank gave a cold response. "You & Mom! Stop bothering me!"

Robert was shocked by his response and was unable to react as Frank slammed the door to his room shut.

After 20 seconds Robert was now back to reality, and was just about to head back down stairs.

Before he did Frank flung the door open and yelled "This is what my problem is!"

As he throw the Beaver Logging files at him.

"What's this?" Robert asked as he picked them up

Frank did not answer; he just let him figure it out.

"You been snooping through my things?" Robert said half angry, half empathetic

"You could say it fell into my lap." Frank half yelled

Frank than started "How could you? You told me you loved animals, and nature. You showed me everything I know! Why would you be in charge of the biggest most fraudulent logging company in the world?"

Just before Robert could answer Frank just put up his hand and said. "You know what I don't want to hear it! You never even told me the truth, why would you now?"

At that Frank leaned into his room and grabbed a cloth bag full of stuff.

"I'm out of here." Frank said coldly.

Before Frank's father could say another word Frank was half way down the stairs, and well on his way out the door.

One hour later.

Frank was now several miles from home when he realized he forgot his wallet.

He did not want to go back, but he had no money.

As he looked around he decided to try something new.

To see if he could survive the life of a homeless man with the skills he had. As Frank continued to walk he spotted an old, abandoned motel and decided to set up there.

**Present day**

"And you see, Shadow it's like that." Frank finished his story.

"So you left your family and your home…because you felt like you were deceived?" Shadow concluded

"Exactly." Frank confirmed

"Will you ever go back?" Shadow asked

Frank fell silent for a few seconds than finally said. "I honestly don't know. Maybe"

"So what is your story, Shadow? Why are you here?" Frank asked

"I was kicked out of my hive." Shadow started to tell his story.

One hour later.

Shadow finished his story.

"Wow." Frank said.

"We have much in common, Shadow. We both stand for what we believe in." Frank said like he found a long lost brother.

"Yes, but you still have a home. You can go back, I can't." Shadow said like he was trying to get through to Frank's senses.

"Shadow, where are you going with this?" Frank asked knowing full well where this was going.

"What I am trying to tell you is your family probably misses you. You need to go back, and try to strike a deal." Shadow said like a professional motivational speaker.

Frank just shook his head in agreement.

"Come. Let's go now" Frank finally said after a 45 second pause.

"Oh, by the way, Shadow. Thanks for listening." Frank said as he put out his fire, and started to pack his bag.


	9. We Meet At Last

"Sergeant?" Teresa asked, over Hicks' radio.

Hicks stopped walking to answer her. "Yes, Teresa? What is it?"

"Sir, you have been out all night looking for that Xeno. It's getting very late you need some rest." Teresa said to Hicks like a concerned mother.

"I'm fine. Plus I nailed a bunch of those fuckers tonight. I'm not stopping." Hicks answered, and then resumed his patrol.

Hicks stopped once again and grabbed his radio."AZ-99, have you seen anything around me lately?"

"There are heat signatures coming towards you, near the old motel." AZ answered with his robust voice.

"Probably just homeless people." Hicks concluded.

"Signatures are inclusive. One looks human, and is glowing normal. The other is glowing green and looks xenomorphic." AZ concluded (AZ's sniper rifle was fit with a custom scope to see both targets at once.)

Hicks gasped "That must be our Xeno."

Hicks started to run for the motel. Just as he got into position AZ came over the radio again.

"Xenomorph target confirmed. Target is wearing a cross around its neck. Shall I terminate?"

"NO!" Hicks yelled over his radio "I want to take it alive." Hicks said has he switched his clip for his pulse rifle.

"I need to know for sure if this one is civil. Maybe it can help us make peace with them." Hicks finished

"Standing down." AZ answered.

Hicks spotted Shadow and started to walk towards him, and said. "Well here goes nothing."

"Good luck, Sergeant." Teresa said.

Shadow saw Hicks slowly walking towards him.

"Frank, get back." Shadow warned.

Shadow had to decide: A. run away. Or B. Try to talk to this human as well.

Shadow thought quickly and finally got up on his hind legs, and slowly approached Hicks.

All the marines were glued to the command center TV. After all day of hunting down and nearly getting killed by xenomorphs they finally found the one that was not initially hostile.

Finally after what felt like forever Shadow, and Hicks, were face to face.

Hicks, was now trembling with both fear and excitement as he tried to communicate with him. "Hello? Can you understand me?"

Shadow simply nodded.

Hicks noticed Shadow was watching his gun. So he slowly placed it on his back than asked. "Can you talk?"

"Yes" Shadow answered telepathically

Hicks, was at a loss for words, and did not know what to say next. So Shadow, asked the next question

"Why do you carry such weapons with you?" Shadow asked like an innocent child

Hicks froze with fear. If he told him he might get angry so Hicks answered the best he could.

"Because I'm like you…a hunter." Hicks answered.

"Do you have a name?" Hicks changed the subject.

"Shadow." Shadow answered coolly.

"Shadow?" Hicks repeated.

Shadow nodded

All the marines were looking at each other. "Hicks can hear him but we can't." Teresa concluded.

"Can you come with me so you can meet my squad?" Hicks asked

"Squad?" Shadow asked

"Yes it's like a pack or a group" Hicks answered

Shadow was not sure about that. Going with a human hunter to meet other human hunters. That sounded very dangerous to him.

Shadow looked over at Frank than turned back to Hicks, and said. "Can I meet them later? I got things to do."

Hicks decided to be more firm "Listen we can't have you scaring everyone. It's not safe for you or anyone. If you don't want to get killed come with me."

Shadow took that as a threat.

"Goodbye!" Shadow yelled as he bolted down the street.

"NO NO NO NO! Don't run! Don't—. "Hicks yelled

Shadow was gone.

Hicks thought fast "Fireball, track him! But do not engage."

At that the blockade went flying by.

Shadow ducked in an alleyway and kept running.

"_Shadow, can you hear me?" _ Frank asked telepathically

"Frank? How did you?" Shadow started to ask.

"I'm a very fast learner." Frank answered

"Shadow, do you see that big shipping yard over there?" Frank asked

"That place with all of the boats?" Shadow asked

"Yes. Meet me there." Frank finished.

Shadow began to run as fast as he could to get to the shipping yard, but at the same time he was trying to avoid being spotted by the shuttle that was following him.

Finally after about 5 minutes of hide and seek the shuttle lost Shadow completely, and he was now wandering around the big shipping yard.

After about 5 minutes Shadow finally caught Frank's smell and went looking for him.

"Shadow, in here!" Frank softly yelled as he gestured for him to get into the shipping container.

Shadow entered the container and Frank slammed it shut behind them.

"You should stay here until the heat dies down." Frank recommended.

Shadow started to lay down when he heard someone talking.

At that both Shadow and Frank heard the container lock.

Frank got a worried look on his face than whispered "Oh, shit! Shadow, they're loading this crate!"

Shadow was confused "What does that mean?"

Once again Frank whispered. "It means were going on a little trip. And by little I mean a very large trip."

"Looks like you are going to have to put fixing things up with your family on hold." Shadow said jokingly.

"Looks like." Frank answered.


	10. A Turn Of Events

"You lost him?!" Hicks yelled over his radio.

"For the first time ever, yes I lost a target." Fireball said with regret in his tone.

Hicks was now pissed, and amazed. Never has anyone or anything ever escaped Fireball's ship.

"That must have been one fast Xeno." Hicks said trying to keep his cool.

"Yes, sir. It took everything I had just to keep up with it." Fireball said.

"Well what direction was he going? " Hicks asked

There was a long silence before Fireball spoke again. "You are not going to like this, sir. Its last known direction was towards the shipyard."

"If he got on one of those ships he could end up anywhere." Hicks instantly said

"I'm sorry, sir." Fireball apologized.

"Don't worry. We will find him, but first we must wrap up this mess here. You know the drill Fireball 'locate, track, & destroy' we must destroy their nest ASAP. Let none escape." Hicks ordered

"I got one, tracking it to the hive now." Fireball said.

Xenomorph hive.

"I still feel bad about, Shadow." Thrasher informed, Skull Cracker.

"Forget him!" Skull Cracker coldly yelled at Thrasher.

"He was an idiot and so are you for feeling bad about this. If you ask me he got off **WAY** too easy." Skull Cracker roared.

"What about me?" Thrasher asked

"What about you?" Skull Cracker asked back

"I was socializing with that human too." Thrasher said

Skull Cracker was dumbstruck at what Thrasher just said. Why did he care, he didn't get punished. Usually he tried to avoid something like that.

"Do you want to be kicked out of the hive like him?" Skull Cracker asked in a very serious tone.

Thrasher only said three honest words. "I don't know."

Skull Cracker just gawked at Thrasher "How could you not know!" He demanded.

"I just don't!" Thrasher roared.

The whole hive stopped what they were doing and starred.

With a snarl Skull Cracker got up, and stormed off leaving, Thrasher alone.

Rev. Slade's house

"I don't believe it! I thought you lost your mind." Zoe said in shock.

All, Slade could do is sit there and grin like a monkey. "What did I tell you, Zoe?" he finally said.

"Oh alright, you don't have to rub it in!" Zoe said in a joking tone. "Where do you think he will go?" Zoe said trying to change the subject.

"I do not know, but I think he is in for a big adventure." Slade answered with a hint of laughter.

"What do you mean?" Zoe asked.

"Well the last time I saw him he said. 'I'm free to explore the world, and all it has to offer.' Or something like that."

"Well good luck to him." Zoe said in a happy tone.

Slade just nodded and said. "Indeed."

_BLOCKADE_

"Sir, I have tracked the Xeno to their hive, and I'm on my way to pick you up." Fireball said like he found redemption.

Hicks wasted no time to reply. "Good work. What's you're twenty?"

"I'm about five minutes from you guys." Fireball answered.

"Good, the sooner we get there the better." Teresa cut in.

20 minutes later

"AX-95 you are in control of nerve center." Hicks ordered

"Why me?" AX answered

"Because you're the only one here who is not a fighter. Now sit down and guide us you big girl." Teresa answered before Hicks could.

"Well what about, Katya? She is not a fighter." AX-95 whined

Hicks walked over to him and said. "Sit down…and SHUT UP! You will do it because I ordered you to!"

AX-95 gave up and sat down.

Hicks turned to the rest of the group. "Remember teams of two, Teresa, and AZ you two are together. Hard-case, you are coming with me." Hicks reminded everyone.

At that the hatch opened to let the marines out, there was both fear, and excitement in the air. "LET'S GO, LET'S GO! MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!" Hicks barked as they charged out of the ship and into the hive.

"Ok, Hard-case time to use that smart-gun of yours." Hicks said calmly.

At that Hard-case screamed like a total lunatic and open fired, killing six xenomorphs instantly.

"I love this gun, Sarg. I LOVE IT." Hard-case yelled wildly

At that Hard-case hit something explosive and sent several Xenos flying. Hard case could hold in his excitement no longer and he blurted out "YEEEE-HHAAAAWWW!"

Hicks could not help but to stop and stare at him and say. "You got problems, Hard-case! You know that don't you?!"

Hard-case was having too much fun with what he was doing, so he did not hear what Hicks said. On the other side of the hive, Teresa, and AZ were turning the place into a shooting gallery

"Teresa, watch this!" AZ-99 said in his robust tone, as he shot one shot from his sniper rifle. The shot ricochet 4 times and killed 4 Xenos. "One shot: four targets, Maximum efficiency." AZ said in a show off tone.

"Pretty impressive, AZ" Teresa admitted "But watch this!" she said as she fired 2 shots which both ricochet killing two xenomorphs that were hiding behind the walls.

"Exceptional "AZ-99 admitted.

"Thank you" Teresa said in the nicest tone.

20 minutes later.

"I counted 100 Xenomorph corpses." AZ-99 informed, Hicks.

"Now we end this! Let's get the queen!" Hicks yelled.

"Me, first." AZ said as he started to run towards the queen.

"Oh, no you don't, ME first! I got the smart-gun!" Hard-case said as he started to run for the queen as well.

Meanwhile in the shipping container

Shadow was lying on the floor completely still.

"Shadow, are you ok?" Frank asked

"I got a bad feeling that something terrible is happening." Shadow answered

At that, Shadow got up and walked over to the container door, and said. "I want out of this itsy bitsy box"

Frank started to laugh really hard.

"What's so funny?" Shadow demanded

Frank made his laughing subside and then finally said "You. 'This itsy bitsy box.' That was not something I was expecting you to say. Then burst out laughing again.

**SLAM…SLAM**

"Shadow, what are you doing?!" Frank quit laughing

"I'm busting out of this box! What does it look like I'm doing?" Shadow snapped at Frank

"NO! Don't! You will draw attention. We need to do this smart" Frank said.

"Fine what do you recommend?" Shadow asked.

"See that metal bar right here?" Frank asked.

"Yeah." Shadow replied

"We need to quietly break it, than the door will open easy." Frank informed Shadow

"Too bad I don't have a hack saw." Frank said

Shadow thought quickly "I can spit acid."

Without saying another word, Shadow opened his mouth and acid shot at the bar, eating through the metal in just a few seconds.

"Wow I wish I had that ability!" Frank said as Shadow pushed the doors open.

Frank spoke up once again. "Well let's look around, but we can't be seen."

The now destroyed hive.

The queen was dead "That's a rap boys, girl, and bots! Let's get out of here." Hicks said as he started to walk for the exit.

Half way out, AZ said. "Hold up! Movement detected." At that, Hicks saw the source of the movement, a Xenomorph was pinned down under a busted down wall and was trying in vain to get free. The Xenomorph was, Thrasher

"Orders, Sarg?" Hard-case asked ready for the kill order.

Thrasher looked up at Skull Cracker who was hiding on a nearby ledge. "Skull Cracker, please don't leave me."

At that Skull Cracker said telepathically "Better you then me."

Thrasher thought quickly. He thought: what would, Shadow do?

With his free hand he pointed a clawed finger at, Skull Cracker.

Hicks, looked up at were the Xeno was pointing than yelled. "Up there fire!" hard-case wiped around and shot the Xeno on the ledge. Skull Cracker was dead.

"Better me than you, brother." Thrasher thought to himself.

"It saved us!" Hicks said with awe struck tone. "Why?"

"What do we do, sir?" Teresa asked.

"Set weapons for stun. I'm going to lift the stuff off of it. If it attacks me take it down." Hicks ordered.

"Are you fucking crazy, Sarg?" Hard-case asked

"Idea: illogical." AZ-99 said

Hicks started to get a bit mad "Just do it!"

Hard-case switched this gun to stun as did the other three. Very carefully, Hicks went over to the Xeno and lifted the wall. Slowly, Thrasher crawled out.

"I'm beginning to think Shadow was really on to something." Thrasher thought to himself.

"Ok it didn't attack us. What do we do now, Sarg?" Hard-case asked.

Hicks was not sure.


	11. New Worlds Discovered

"Come on, sir. Make up your mind on what to do with this…thing." Hard-case said with a worried tone.

"You sound nervous, Hard-case." Hicks started to make fun.

At that Hard-case got very angry and yelled. "Fuck you, Sarg! I think I'm right to be sacred. These things are monsters!"

AZ-99 looked at him and said. "Your conclusion is illogical."

Hard-case turned to AZ and asked. "Oh yeah! How so, droid?"

"Knock it off both of you!" Hicks yelled.

"I wish I could understand them." Thrasher thought to himself.

At that Thrasher felt sad as he thought to himself. "I wish Shadow were here."

"I got an idea; we should try to communicate with it." Teresa recommended trying to be the voice of reason.

Teresa slowly approached Thrasher and asked. "Can you understand me?"

Thrasher tilted his head, trying to comprehend what she was trying to say.

Teresa repeated herself. "Can you understand me?"

Thrasher was getting frustrated. She was talking to him but he could not understand. "How did Shadow do this? What am I doing wrong?!" Thrasher thought to himself.

Suddenly Thrasher felt a slight burning in his head. Very rapidly the pain grew to the point where it was unbearable. Thrasher fell into a wall shirking in pain and grasping his dome.

"What's happening?!" Hicks asked.

Teresa shook her head and yelled. "I don't know!"

Finally after what felt like forever, Thrasher stopped hissing in pain and began to get his balance back.

"Oh my head. What just happened?" Thrasher thought to himself.

Teresa approached Thrasher and asked once again. "Can you understand me?"

Thrasher just stood there in shock, he understood.

"Give up, Teresa. It can't understand you." Hard-case said.

Thrasher thought quickly. "How did Shadow say he talked back to the humans? Uh…uh…telepathically!"

"Can you understand me?" Thrasher tried.

At that Teresa spun around and said. "It just talked to me!"

Now Thrasher knew how Shadow felt. It felt like a new world was about to open.

"What's your name little…err big guy?" Teresa asked.

"Thrasher." Thrasher answered.

"What did it say, Teresa?" Hicks asked

"His name is, Thrasher, sir." Teresa answered

The ship.

"Man its dark down here." Frank said as he struggled to get around.

"Why can't humans see in the dark?" Shadow asked.

"I don't know we just can't." Frank answered.

"Ah here is the door out!" Frank said as he opened the door and sunlight poured in.

"Good let's get ou…wow." Shadow said as he looked at the open ocean

"Looks like were out in the open sea. We're not getting off this ship for a while." Frank said.

"What is this?" Shadow asked in awe struck tone.

"It's the ocean, silly. Don't tell me you never heard of the ocean." Frank answered with laughter in his voice.

Shadow thought back to when he met Mrs. Wilson. She did say something about the oceans, but he never thought it was like this, like a big blue void.

"Yes I have I heard some teaching human say the word but I could not comprehend it…until now." Shadow answered.

"Where do you think this ship is going?" Shadow asked.

Frank looked at his watch than at the sun and said. "Its 8AM the sun is in the east which is behind us so were going west, so maybe Hawaii."

Shadow heard that word before but did not know what to expect.

Before Shadow could ask another question Frank said. "I have an aunt that lives there. Aunt Marie. I bet she can get us back to San Francisco."

"What is Hawaii like, Frank?" Shadow asked wanting to know what to expect.

Frank explained how the islands were made out of volcanos, and how nice it is there. Shadow was confused. How could something made out of lava be beautiful? "An island made out of molten rock sounds like hell on earth." Shadow said.

Frank could not help, but laugh. "Trust me it is very beautiful there. You may not want to go back to San Francisco." Frank reassured.

"I Sure hope that is where were going." Frank said.

"How long will it take to get there?" Shadow said with a bit of excitement in his mental voice.

Frank let out a long sigh and said. "On this thing, about 20 days, maybe longer if there is bad weather.

_BLOCKADE_

Thrasher followed Hicks and Teresa back to the shuttle while Hard-case and AZ searched the hive for other rogue Xenomorphs to terminate.

"I've done a LOT of crazy things, Hicks, but you bested me today." Fireball said with a hint of laughter.

Hicks just smiled and turned back to Thrasher and said. "Now were going to take you back to our base, and teach you about our race, while you tell us about yours, all right?"

Thrasher was very reluctant, but agreed.


	12. Captain Sam Smith

Three days later, Ship Command Bridge.

"Captain, I went down to the haul of the ship, and found this stuck on one of the cams." A security officer said as he took a zip lock bag out of his pocket.

Captain Smith looked at the stuff in the small plastic bag and asked. "What is it?"

"I was hoping you would know, Sir. I've never seen anything like it." The security officer answered.

Just as the captain was about to speak, a voice came over the loud speaker. "Captain Smith you are needed in security."

Without saying a word Captain Smith started out the door, pondering on what the stuff in the bag is. After what felt like forever, Captain Smith finally made it to the security office. Without knocking he walked in and asked. "What's the problem?"

"We keep hearing weird sounds, and seeing very weird shadows on the cameras. My men refuse to investigate…" the security officer said, but was cut off by the Captain.

"Say no more… I will investigate this personally!" Captain Smith said like a true badass.

Before the Security officer could advise otherwise, the captain was out the door and heading for the cargo hold.

"Sir, please stop! There is some weird shit down here!" A security guard tried in vain to stop the determined Captain

"All right, who's on MY ship?!" Smith yelled

Smith leaned over to turn the light on, but felt the switch was broken. Without skipping a beat the captain reached over to the security guard, and grabbed his flashlight off his belt.

"You, stay here, and make sure no one leaves!" Smith said as he started down the dark hallway.

5 minutes later

"Frank someone is coming this way!" Shadow telepathy warned.

As soon as Frank got out of sight Captain Smith turned the corner, and yelled. "I don't like stowaways on my ship! Come out, now!"

"Shadow, I know that voice." Frank said to Shadow telepathy.

Before Shadow could ask a question, Frank came out of his hiding spot and asked out loud. "Uncle Sam?"

Smith spun around and stared at Frank with disbelief. "Frank…is that you?"

Smith could not believe his eyes "How…in the world did you get on my ship?"

"It's a very long story." Frank answered

Smith shook his head in disbelief then asked. "Are you alone?"

Frank became very nervous. "Well….not…exactly." Frank stammered.

Smith looked at him funny than said. "Not exactly? It's either you're alone or someone is with you. Which is it?"

Before Frank could answer, Shadow decided to make one of his legendary appearances. Without saying a word to Frank, Shadow jumped down behind Captain Smith without making a sound.

Frank got a very worried look on his face. "What's wrong with you?" Smith said as he started to turn around.

"Uncle, wait! Before you turn around…" Frank was unsure on what to say. "Uh… just don't scream."

Very slowly Captain Smith turned around then asked "What am I looking at, Frank?"

Without saying a word, Frank pointed Smith's flash-light on Shadow. The first thing Smith saw was Shadows huge teeth that were only a few inches away from his face.

Smith instantly freaked out "Oh, SHIT! How the fuck did I not see that thing!? Frank…What….the…fuck…is it!?" Smith was now backing away from fear.

"Don't worry, Shadow won't hurt you." Frank said as calmly as he could, but it was evident that Smith was too scared to move let alone, listen to reason.

At that a bunch of security guards came running up "Captain, are you all right?!" they yelled as they ran.

Captain Smith came back to reality "I'm fine!" Smith yelled than shook his head. "Or I just lost my mind." He mumbled. Before Shadow could bolt for a hiding place the guards came into view.

"What the hell is that thing!" one of them yelled, as he pulled out his gun.

"Don't shoot! He bleeds acid!" Frank yelled

Shadow stood still like he was planning to leap on one of them. Frank figured out what Shadow was planning to do. "Shadow, don't do it!" Frank warned.

Shadow hissed as he eyed the guard with the gun pointed at him.

Suddenly Captain Smith cut in "Put that away! You aren't going to kill it with that little pistol. You will probably just piss it off."

Very reluctantly the guard put his gun back in his holster.

"What are your orders, Sir?" One of the guards asked with a lot of fear in his voice.

"Turn this Ship around! We're going back to San Francisco." The head security guard boldly ordered.

Captain Smith suddenly spoke up. "Excuse me?! I do believe _I_ am the Captain! I call the shots, NOT YOU!"

Frank could not help but to laugh. He knew his uncle very well and he was always very hot headed.

Smith then ordered "This ship will stay on course until I say otherwise."

Captain Smith turned to Frank and said. "Frank you come with me." Smith started to walk off, but Frank stopped him dead in his tracks with a question. "What about, Shadow?"

Smith turned around to look at Shadow. After a long pause Captain Smith finally said. "Fine bring you're creepy pet with you."

"HEY! I'm not his pet!" Shadow roared in Smiths thoughts.

Smith grabbed his head in pain, than asked with shock in his voice. "What the hell. Did you just yell at me?"

"Yes he did. Shadow can talk with telepathy." Frank informed.

The guards were just looking at each other confused.

"Well fine now I know _he _understands me, I take that pet crack back. I'm sorry." Smith genuinely apologized.

Shadow just nodded.

Smith started to walk. Before Frank started, he leaned over and said sarcastically said. "Come along, my pet."

Shadow just snarled at Frank then grumbled at him "You stupid humans…you think you own everything! HA!"

Frank burst out laughing, as they followed Captain Smith down the long dark haul, and up to A Deck


	13. Doctor Groves

U.S.C.M base.

"Sir there is a scientist from Weyland-Yutani here to see you." AX-95 informed Hicks.

"Weyland-Yutani, what do those assholes want?" Hicks asked

"I'm not sure, but he—"AX-95 started but was cut off.

"But, he's here now." Groves finished AX-95 sentence. "I'm sorry for my rude entrance, but neither I nor Mr. Weyland have much time to waste, so I will be brief. My name is Doctor Groves, and you are in possession of a Xenomorph that belongs to us, and we want it back."

Without skipping a beat Hicks said to him "tough shit Doc, finders' keepers."

At that General Monroe burst into the room. "Sergeant, you are to take him to the creature now, and give it to him."

Hicks decided that he better cooperate first than ask questions later, so Hicks just nodded and walked out the door to take Dr. Groves to Thrasher.

Once there, Hicks swiped his keycard and entered Thrashers room. It was a comfortable room with a lot of natural lighting, and plenty of space. They decided that they might have more success with Thrasher if they did not make him feel like a prisoner, so he also had his own keycard that had civilian accesses. This was against Hicks's better judgment.

Teresa was sitting on the floor in front of Thrasher, telling him about Earth.

Groves stood there in disbelief that Teresa was inches from the Xenomorph and he was fine with it.

Groves slowly walked up to Thrasher with his mouth hanging open "I don't believe it! How in the name of God did you tame it?" Groves finally asked.

Thrasher growled under his breath.

Teresa got up. "Be careful what you say. He does not like being talked about like he's inferior." She warned.

Thrasher was just staring at Groves like he knew him than finally asked in telepathy. "Do I know you? I recognize your smell…but I can't place it."

Groves started to back away in shock. "It talks?"

Teresa and Hicks could not help but laugh. Groves' eyes were wide as saucers when he finally said "I'll be right back." Groves started for his ship theDISCOVER.

"Computer, contact Karl Bishop Weyland." Groves commanded

"Dr. Groves, I thought I told you not to call this number." Karl said in a very serious tone.

Groves ignored him and said. "I have something you will want to see. Something amazing!"

"What is it, Groves?" Karl asked like he was now getting intrigued.

"Do you remember Xenomorph specimens 20 through 30?" Groves asked in a calm tone of voice.

"Of course I do. They were chipped with a failed microchip design that you made. The function of the chip was to give them human thoughts and feelings." Karl answered

"Exactly, the Xenomorph the marines have is one of them." Groves said with a hint of excitement.

"So what, the chip failed how does this interest me?" Karl demanded.

"The Xenomorph they have is acting human!" Groves took a pause to hold his excitement. "And it spoke to me." Groves finished.

"Are you sure, Groves?" Karl asked

"I'm certain." Groves coolly answered.

"Very well…deliver this Xenomorph to me. I want to see it." Karl ordered.

"Uh… actually, Sir I think it is a better idea if you come here." Groves recommended.

After a brief pause Karl finally said without argument. "Very well, I will come to you. This better be worth my time." then hung up without saying another word.

For the first time in a long while Dr. Groves got a big genuine smile.

Groves went into a small closet and grabbed a brief case, and returned to Thrashers room. Just as Groves was about to go in Hicks stopped him. "Excuse me, but what's in the case?" Hicks politely asked.

Groves had nothing to hide so he opened it. Inside there was a scanner, and small laptop. "I wish to run tests on it."

Hicks did not want to move out of his way, but General Monroe was just down the hall, so he had to.

Dr. Groves Set up his lap top and took out his scanner and said "Now I'm going to slowly wave this over your head."

Just as Groves was about to start the scan Thrasher leaned his head back and asked. "Will it hurt?"

Once again Groves was blown away at This Xenomorph intelligence. "Oh no it is painless." He answered as he waved the device over his hand, a red lazar trailed over, but no pain. "See?" Groves asked.

Thrasher just nodded, and let Groves do his thing. After a few seconds the scanner beeped, and read on the lap top:

"Xenomorph specimen: 23.

Age: 3 months.

Specimen 23 is 1 of 10 chipped Xenomorphs.

Data installment: 100% success.

No further information."

"That's all I needed. Thank you for being obedient." Groves said bluntly as he put the scanner away.

"Now if you don't mind I would like to ask you some questions." Groves said to Thrasher.

"What if I don't want to?" Thrasher asked in a disobedient tone. Thrasher was very wary of Dr. Groves he just had a feeling that he was not a good man.

"Well I can't make you talk to me, but I wish you would." Dr. Groves tried to persuade Thrasher to open up.

"Maybe tomorrow." Thrasher was in no mood to talk to him he wanted to get back to talking to Teresa about Earth.

"Alright tomorrow than." Groves agreed. He knew Mr. Weyland would take a few days to get to him.

Groves left the room to go back to his ship to start a new audio log, while Teresa and Thrasher resumed their conversation.

"Excuse me, Dr. Groves?" General Monroe asked

"Yes, what do you want?" Groves coldly asked back

"Are you taking the creature with you?" General Monroe asked in a hopeful tone.

"No." Groves answered than walked away before General Monroe could ask another question.

"What do you think of that human, Teresa?" Thrasher asked

"I don't like him. I think he is slime." Teresa answered.

"Me too." Thrasher said.


	14. Personal Hygiene

The ship.

Captain Smith, Shadow, and Frank were now in Smiths quarters on C Deck. "So Uncle, where is the ship heading?" Frank asked trying to strike a conversation.

"Well, the ship was heading for Hawaii, but now it looks like were going back to San Francisco." Smith answered.

"Why?" Shadow innocently asked.

Smith looked at Shadow in bewilderment. "What do you mean 'why'? Look at you! My crew won't want to stay on ship with you around." Smith explained, but than instantly regretted it.

Shadow just looked over at Frank and then back at Smith, than asked. "What's wrong with me?"

Smith was now feeling a bit scared about answering that. "Well." Smith started meekly.

Shadow was just staring at him. He wanted to know why no one but Frank and Rev. Slade liked him.

"Uh… Frank?" Smith asked.

Frank just stood there with a huge grin on his face when he said. "Oh no. You are on your own with this. I'm enjoying this too much"

"Well… Go on, I want to know why." Shadow said in full honestly. Shadow didn't understand why the humans on the ship would feel unconfortable with his appearance. He was considered very good looking with his brothers, and sisters, and mother, and he didn't hurt anyone.

"Well because—and please don't eat me for this, but." Smith started

Shadow leaned forward to listen.

"Look at you, these dreadful claws, that horrible tail." Smith started

Shadow looked at his tail. Was it really that horrible? In the hive a good sharp tail was a sign of good health.

Smith continued. "And…once again please don't kill me. And, you smell like you never had a bath."

Shadow just stared blankly at Smith.

Frank on the other hand was trying not to lose it. "You are a bit ripe, Shadow." Frank added than burst out laughing.

Shadow was confused on what was so funny. Finally after Frank quit laughing, Shadow shook his head in confusion "Bath? What's the heck is that?" Shadow asked both Frank and Smith.

Frank struggled not to laugh again.

"Well that would explain it." Smith answered in a sarcastic tone.

Frank completely lost it. Once again Shadow did not get what was so funny.

"Oh dear, don't worry Frank will help give you a bath." Smith said with a shit eating grin.

Frank instantly quit laughing to say. "Oh hell no! Not going to happen, forget it."

"I know why don't you give him a bath?" Frank recommended

"I don't think Shadow here likes me that much." Smith answered.

"It's your ship." Frank argued

"That's right and, if you get him smelling half way decent, and get his claws trimmed, I won't tell your mother and father you are on Hawaii." Smith offered.

Shadow cut in. "If I do this bath thing, you won't turn the boat around?"

Both Smith and Frank looked at Shadow and nodded.

After a long pause to think, Frank finally sighed said. "Fine I will get Shadow one hot bath."

Smith smiled. "Good you can use my tub. I think it's the only one on the ship he will fit in." Smith said and laughed.

"Swell." Frank said and looked at Shadows claws. "How are we going to cut these big things?"

"I have an Afghan on board, so I got big enough clippers to get them cut." Smith answered

Frank nodded. "Fine go get them. I'll fix Shadows smell, and take care of his claws."

Shadow felt very worried about this.

"Come on let's get this over with, Shadow." Frank said as he walked over to Smith's bathroom.

Shadow reluctantly followed Frank into the spacious bathroom. It was a very nice bathroom with lots of brass decoration, and a luxurious whirlpool bathtub.

Frank walked over to the large tub and turned on the facet. Shadow tipped his head inquisitively as Frank tuned the values to adjust the water temperature.

"What are you doing?" Shadow asked like an innocent kid.

"I don't want to make the water too hot for you." Frank answered.

"For me?" Shadow asked.

"Yes." Frank answered.

"You can't take a bath without water." Frank added

Very rapidly the water level climbed, and Shadow was wondering, what did he just get himself into?

Frank turned the water off and turned to Shadow. "Climb in."

"But I'll get wet." Shadow dumbly said.

Frank just did a face palm. "That's the whole point, Lugnut."

Shadow slowly walked up to the tub of water, and placed a clawed hand in the hot water, then another and finally got in. It felt weird to Shadow to just be sitting in hot water.

Frank grabbed a bar of soap. "This is called soap. Just dip it into the water slide you're hands over it until it gets sudsy." Frank explained as he handed Shadow the soap.

Shadow sniffed it and said. "It smells funny."

Frank rolled his eyes. "That's because you aren't used to it."

Shadow began to rub wet the bar of soap.

"Now all you got to do is rub your sudsy claws over your body." Frank explained.

Shadow felt very weird about doing this, and Frank could tell.

"I'll leave you alone to take your bath." Frank said as he started for the door.

Shadow was alone and did as he was told. Though he did not know what the point of this was.

20 minutes later Frank came back in with a few towels. "How you doing in here, Shadow?

"I'm all done… but I sure don't get the point of all of this. You didn't take a bath." Shadow answered.

Frank laughed. "Don't worry as soon as your claws are trimmed and you're dry. I'm next."

Before Frank could say another word Shadow asked a question. "What do all these buttons do?"

"Well, let me see…massage jets, and water temperature." Frank read the console.

"Jets, what do they do?" Shadow asked

"Yeah they feel really good." Frank answered

Shadow looked up at Frank confused once again.

"Here" Frank said as he pressed the button for the jets. The water came out powerfully. At first Shadow was caught off guard and scared by it but very quickly decided he liked the feeling.

Frank chuckled as shadow leaned back bending his very flexible pipes on his back.

"Alright I'm going to clip your claws" Frank said in a matter-of-factly tone.

Frank reached out for Shadow's clawed hand. Shadow did not like the idea of having his claws cut one bit.

Frank looked at the claw clippers and said. "I can just tell that I'm not going to cut those with this crappy thing."

Shadow was relived.

Frank started to walk out the door, but before he did he said. "Hey Shadow, please don't take too long in here. OK?"

Shadow felt strangely relaxed like he could soak in the water all day, but nodded.

25 minutes later Shadow climbed out of the tub and shook off sending water everywhere not realizing that is what the towels were for.

Frank ran in when he heard the sound of shaking. He hoped, and prayed that shadow did not do what he thought he did. Frank walked in to see everything soaked.

"Shadow!" Frank yelled.

Shadow looked up at him "What, what did I do?"

Shadow was about to shake again, but Frank stopped him." No, no, no, no! That is what the towels are for." Frank informed as he unfolded a towel and throw it around Shadow.

Frank felt annoyed, but laughed and said. "Working with you is, like working with a three year old."

"You dry off with the towel. I've got to clean this mess up, and get cleaned up before Uncle Sam comes back." Frank said coolly.

Shadow groggily walked out of the bathroom while using the towel to dry off.

50 minutes later Frank got the mess cleaned up and was now cleaned up himself.

In that time Shadow made himself at home, and was sound asleep in front of the open window.


	15. Acquaintances

20 minutes later

Frank finished cleaning up, and put on some much needed fresh clothes, a simple white T-Shirt and blue jeans. Frank left the bathroom to see Shadow sleeping soundly. "Look at that, he's sleeping like a baby." Frank laughed to himself.

At that Captain Smith walked into the room, and took one look at Shadow and laughed. "Well looks like he wasn't any trouble for you."

Frank shook his head and said. "No, not any at all." After a brief pause Frank said "I'll wake him up."

Smith grabbed him by his arm and whispered "No, let sleeping creatures lie."

"If I don't he will sleep all day, and then he will be awake all night. Do you want him to lurk in the vents at night when you and your crew are sleeping, oh be in your way… now?" Frank asked his uncle.

Smith thought for a moment. Should he let Shadow sleep, or should he wake him up. "Fine, wake him up." Smith surrendered.

Frank walked up to Shadow and shook Shadow by his shoulder. Frank knew Shadow hated being woke up, so he knew to dodge back once he did.

Surprisingly Shadow woke up calmly, hissing in his own language "Thrash, Is that you?" Neither Smith nor Frank could understand him. Once Shadow woke up fully and remembered where he was he looked up at Frank and Smith and, said telepathically. "Oh, hello."

"That was weird… I've been in water many times before, but I never gotten _that_ sleepy." Shadow announced.

"That's hot water and jets for you." Frank said and laughed.

Shadow looked at Frank with a dumb look and said. "I didn't know you can do that."

Frank was totally lost. "Do what?" He asked

"Change your skin color." Shadow answered.

Frank was perplexed on what Shadow meant but figured it out. "This is not my skin. These are my clothes." Frank informed.

Captain Smith was trying not to laugh at Shadow complete innocence.

"Clothes? You humans are so weird." Shadow did not understand why humans would need something like that.

Frank and Smith couldn't help but to laugh a little.

Shadow stretched his long legs, arms, and tail and stood up. "Well I want to have a look around." Shadow bluntly announced, as he started to walk over to the door. Frank and Smith looked at each other Frank looked like he felt it was a good idea to give Shadow a tour. Smith on the other hand looked like no fucking way.

"Uh, Shadow hold up for a second." Frank said.

Shadow stopped, as Frank and Smith argued amongst themselves. "Come on let him stretch his legs." Frank said trying to get his uncle to cave in.

"Frank, my crew is already not happy with our… guest. What do you think they will say or do if I let him run around freely?" Smith answered trying to be the voice of reason.

"If they see he's not hostile and doesn't hurt anyone they will calm down. Plus if they see the Captain trusts him they might too." Frank said, also trying to be the voice of reason.

In the meantime, Shadow was just standing there, getting bored.

Smith just stood there trying to think of something to say. "Oh God darn you, Frank, this better not start a panic!" Smith surrendered, as he stormed for the door. Very quickly Smith got his temper under control and calmly said. "Come on, Shadow, I'll show you around."

Shadow was glad to finally get to walk among humans and not get shot at, or called 'a demon'. He started for the door very exactly.

"I hope this is a good idea, Frank." Smith said in a worried tone.

"Trust me he's like a big kid." Frank said in a confident tone.

Smith sighed. "Where should we start, this is not a cruise ship. There's not much to see."

"How about you introduce him to your crew?" Frank asked

Smith nodded. "Let's get the hardest part over… the introductions. Fortunately there are only 20 crew members. The five in security will be the hardest, so let's get them first." Smith concluded.

20 minutes later, at security.

"Shadow, Frank you two stay out here while I prepare the guys in security." Captain Smith said as he opened the door to security.

"Captain, what a nice surprise!" The security officer said with delight in his voice.

Smith was not sure how to prepare them for this. "Uh… Josh, Vick, Vincent, Mike, and James, I want…no, no. Uh… you remember the thing down in the haul of the ship?" Smith stammered

"Yes." Vick answered in a very worried tone.

"I… oh forget it." Smith started

"Frank Shadow, come on in here!" Smith called

"Brace yourselves." Smith vaguely warned.

Frank entered first with Shadow right behind him. All five of the security guards backed away.

"Don't be afraid, he won't hurt you." Frank assured.

"Captain?" Vick asked meekly.

"Don't worry he won't hurt you, trust me." Smith assured.

"This is my nephew Frank, and this is his friend Shadow. Shadow this is: Josh, Vick, Vincent, Mike, and James. Guys this is Shadow." Smith finished. All five guys were looking back and forth at Smith and Shadow.

"Wow you are bad at this." Shadow joked only to Smith. Smith shot Shadow a look like he was about to deck him.

Shadow opened his mind to everybody in the small room and spoke "Hello."

Once again all five guys backed away in shock. "It talks?" James asked in disbelief.

"Yes I do." Shadow answered in a very friendly tone.

Vincent slowly walked up to Shadow and said. "I'm Vincent," then extended his hand to Shadow. Somehow Shadow knew what the jester meant, and extended a clawed hand to the man and shook his hand. One by one, all the men in the room greeted Shadow and very quickly began to feel comfortable around him.

After about five minutes James said. "I have a question for you. Do you know where this stuff came from?" As he pulled the small zip lock bag out of his pocket.

Shadow didn't want to answer the question, but did. "My kin use that to build our hive, treat our wounds, and pin our hosts down so they can't get away."

"Why would you need hosts?" Josh chimed in.

Shadow had explained it all too Frank back a few days ago, so Frank knew what to say next. "Trust me you don't want to know."

"Yes I do!" Josh yelled "He could be very dangerous." Josh finished.

"Not without my, mother." Shadow answered.

"Well, were the heck is she?" Josh demanded

"I got a feeling she was killed shortly after Frank and I got loaded on the ship." Shadow answered, with a hint of sorrow in his mental voice.

"I felt the screams of my brothers and sisters in my hive mind. I felt them all die, and I swear I felt mothers death as well, and my hive mind fell silent." Shadow said.

Josh started to back off and started feeling bad about being insensitive.

Suddenly Shadow whipped his head around rapidly than said. "But it does not matter. They disowned me. Maybe they just cut my link." Shadow said.

"What do you mean the disowned you?" Smith asked, but trying not to push him, but rather help him feel better.

Shadow let out a long soft hiss and began his story.


	16. Locked Down

U.S.C.M Base.

"Sergeant Hicks, you will keep this thing locked down. I don't want Mr. Weyland's prize escaping." Groves ordered.

"He's fine! Don't order me around, Sir." Hicks spat back.

"It's our Xenomorph, and I want it locked down…now." Groves calmly replied

Before Hicks could say another word General Monroe stepped in once again. "Sergeant, do what he asks." Monroe ordered.

"Sir, if I may? That doesn't sound like a good idea." Teresa butted in. "We have gotten so much information out of him, locking him in restraints might make him unwilling to corporate." Teresa finished.

"Excuse me, Corporal, but I did not ask for your input!" Monroe boomed.

"Just, lock it down! I don't see what all the fuss is about." Groves threw his two cents in.

"Well I'm not going to be the one to do it!" Hicks announced.

"Fine…AZ; lock down the Xenomorph, now." Monroe ordered.

AZ rustled with his programming. Should he obey the General or should he do what his processer computed as right?

"Sir, Thrasher has given zero resistance. Locking him up for nothing, may result in rebellious behavior." AZ tried to be reasonable, but Monroe got very pissed.

"Are you refusing my order, you hunk of plastic?!" Monroe yelled.

"Hey!" AX-95 chimed in. "Don't get mad at AZ he is just trying to be reasonable, sir."

Monroe looked shocked; AX was never bold like that.

"And I would like to add: I also think it's a bad idea to lock him up, sir." AX-95 finished.

Suddenly Hard-Case and Fireball walked in the meeting room. "Hey, what did we miss?" Fireball asked in a friendly tone.

"They want to lock Thrasher down!" Teresa informed them.

"What? What for?" Hard-case asked.

"AZ-99 did I not give you an order?" Monroe asked.

"An illogical one, yes." AZ answered.

"So why are you still standing there? Get going!" Monroe yelled.

AZ started for the door to obey the command, but Teresa stopped him. "Hold up, AZ. Sir let's talk about this." Teresa started.

"None of us agree with this! This W-Y punk doesn't know what he is talking about. If he did they would not have gotten loose in San Francisco." Hard-case added.

Groves stared at Hard-case like he was going to kill him on the spot.

"This is not a committee meeting! Lock it up, or all of you will be court-martialed, and the droids melted down for spare parts! Now get moving!" Monroe yelled.

None of the marines liked it, but went to find Thrasher.

"Nicely handled, sir." Doc. Groves complemented.

It didn't take Hicks and his men long to find Thrasher.

"Hi, buddy." Teresa greeted Thrasher.

"We need to talk." Hicks said with regret in his voice.

Thrasher was now paying full attention to Hicks.

"Listen, General Monroe has ordered us to lock you down."  
Thrasher was familiar with the term, and did not like the idea one bit.

"What? Why?" Thrasher asked.

"We don't know, and we don't agree, but we must do as were told." Hicks answered.

"But I've done nothing wrong!" Thrasher complained.

"Thrasher, if you cooperate, we may be able to get you out later, if you don't act hostile." Teresa said like a mother.

Thrasher did not like this one bit, but decided to trust his friends. "Fine, I will cooperate."

"I'm sorry Thrasher, none of us agree with this." Fireball added as they took Thrasher to the custom built Xenomorph restraints.

After ten minutes Hicks and AZ-99 locked Thrasher's arms, legs, and tail down tightly, while Fireball, Teresa, and Hard-Case stood there and watched and getting more pissed by the second. "This is totally barbaric!" Fireball finally yelled.

At that Monroe and Groves entered the holding cell. "Is it locked down yet?" Monroe asked.

Both of the droids, Hicks, Teresa, Hard-case, and Fireball glared at Monroe like they wanted to kill him.

"This is cruel and unusual! Looks like we've gone backwards in time…to the 17th century." Fireball yelled.

"Fireball, don't. Not yet." Hicks advised.

Fireball held his tongue.

"Mr. Weyland will be here in one day, maybe two. I think you can hold it for that long." Groves said with mockery in his tone.

Suddenly Thrasher roared unbelievably loud. "I remember you! You killed my brothers and sisters! You tortured me nearly to death!" Thrasher screamed as he started to fight to get free. Vainly Thrasher violently slammed around trying to bust out to get to Groves, while screaming. "I'll kill you!"

Groves however was not afraid in the slightest. "I think he likes me." Groves joked.

"Yeah, let's see how much he likes you, when I push you within his reach!" Fireball yelled as he started to storm up to Doc. Groves. Hicks and Hard-Case quickly grabbed Fireball to stop him from doing anything rash.

"Hicks take your men and get out of this room." Groves ordered.

Without any enthusiasm Hicks said. "Sir, yes sir." Then left the room with his men, and went back to Thrashers room.

"Sir, what are we doing in here?" Teresa asked

"We can't let Weyland get his hands on Thrasher. We've got to come up with some sort of plan to hide him." Hicks answered.

Hard-case walked up to Hicks and said. "This is totally nuts…I'm in."

"Me too." Teresa offered

"That makes three of us." Fireball said

AZ-99 and AX-95 walked up and said together like two twins. "We're in."

"You may need a medic." Katya offered.

"That makes all seven of us. We got to bust Thrasher out tonight. The longer we wait the more danger he's in." Hicks said in a hushed tone.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"I don't know how we're going to do this…but we've got to. Any ideas?" Hicks asked

Katya walked up and said. "I have one. The _BLOCADE _has EMP weapons, and coms disrupters. We could escape without hurting anyone."

"Yeah, but what will stop them from pursuing us?" Hicks asked.

"Uh…sir, I took the liberty of installing a stealth field generator." Fireball said like he had forgotten all about it.

"What? When did you do that?" Hicks asked.

"About six months ago." Fireball was turning red out of embarrassment.

"That would have been nice to know, but hey at least we have an advantage." Hicks said in a very nice tone.

"I can bypass security remotely. I can tell the computer I need to do maintenance, and boom all cams around the ships and Thrasher will be down!" AX-95 suggested

"Excellent idea, AX!" Hicks said with a slight smile on his face.

"Recommendation: we place bombs around the ship _DISCOVER,_ so that block head does not trace the Xenomorph. He has the only tracking device for the chip in the Xenomorphs head." AZ suggested.

"I don't know AZ that might hurt or kill someone." Hicks said.

"EMP bomb! We can short out all of his ships computers without hurting anyone" Teresa recommended.

"Let's do that." Hick decided.

"Were will we hide him?" Hard-case asked.

"Let's worry about that later, but don't worry I got several ideas that will work." Hicks said.

"Ok let's do this later tonight, after Monroe has gone on his base patrol, no one will get in our way." Hicks said.

Everyone nodded in agreement.


	17. Escape

**Hello readers, I'm sorry it took me this long to update. I was very thrilled to see my story received 5,000 views. Thank you all for showing your interest by reviewing, and please continue showing interest. It means a lot to me. Thank you.**

It was now late; Hicks and his squad were ready for the breakout. All that remained was to inform Thrasher of their plan. Doctor Groves had left Thrasher's holding cell to turn in for the night, so Hicks and AX-95 snuck in to talk to Thrasher. Thrasher however was not very happy to see them. "What do you want?" Thrasher asked with anger in his mental voice.

"Listen, we said if you cooperate we would be able to get you out. Now were getting you out." Hicks said in a hushed tone.

Thrasher didn't know what they meant. "Good I need to stretch my legs." Thrasher said in a much nicer tone.

"Do you remember how we brought you in here?" Hicks asked.

"Yes." Thrasher answered confused.

"Good when the power goes out, your restraints will release." Hicks started, but was cut off by Thrasher.

"Why don't you just unlock them?" Thrasher asked.

"Because were busting you out of here." Hicks answered.

Thrasher was at a loss for words.

"You are going to be free soon!" Hicks finished. "Now our plan is: the power will go out, and you will be freed of your restraints. All you need to do is go down the hall and take a right; you will see us waiting in front of the ship." Hicks told Thrasher the plan.

Thrasher agreed, but had a plan of his own to kill Dr. Grooves.

AX left the room to get into position.

Hard-case and AZ-99 began to plant the EMP bombs around Dr. Groves's ship. "Hard-case, what do you say to planting explosives around the ship instead." AZ-99 recommended in his robust voice.

Hard-case laughed. He wanted to blow Dr. Groves to the moon as bad as AZ-99 and Fireball, but did not want to piss Hicks off.

Teresa was with Fireball on the _BLOCADE_. She was prepping the ships weapons and cloaking device. "There, almost done Fireball." She informed.

"We never tested this, I sure hope this works." Fireball said with worry in his tone.

Teresa finished what she was doing and went over to the ships computer to start the encrypted signal, so Hicks could talk to his squad.

"Teresa, AZ, AX what is your status?" Hicks asked over his encrypted radio.

"The ship is done." Teresa answered.

"The bombs have been laid." AZ-99 answered.

"I'm plugged into the computer, ready for your word." AX answered.

"Good, Fireball start the ship! AX Kill the power now!" Hicks ordered.

As soon as Hicks said the word, the lights, cameras, and Thrashers restraints all went down. Thrasher yanked as hard as he could, and very quickly freed himself. No alarms went off. AX did his job perfectly.

Thrasher started down the long tunnel very quickly Thrasher came to the end of the tunnel and had a choice. He could go right and find Hicks and his friends, or he could go left and find Dr. Groves.

Thrasher looked to the right and then to the left unsure of what to do.

"_Thrasher!"_ Hicks yelled from down the hall. Thrasher looked to the left and snarled. "Looks like revenge and justice will have to wait." At that Thrasher bolted down to the right and caught up to Hicks Quickly.

"Thank God! I was beginning to think you had gone after Dr. Groves." Hicks said relieved.

Suddenly AX-95 came running down the tunnel, and into the ship. Thrasher and Hicks went on board to see Hard-case and AZ-99 already onboard the ship.

The _BLOCADE'S _engines roared to life, and the ship took off. Suddenly a voice came over the radio. "Tower to _BLOCADE _come in BLOCADE. What are you doing at this hour?"

"_BLOCADE _to tower… I'm going on a practice run. Don't mind me." Fireball lamely answered.

There was a brief silence.

"_BLOCADE _land at once that is an order!" It was General Monroe and he was pissed off.

Fireball instantly sassed the General. "You going to make me, sir?"

"Final warning Turn around now, or we will shoot you down!" Monroe yelled.

"Thanks for the warning, sir." Fireball replied calmly, as he activated the cloaking device. The ship disappeared into thin air.

"Hicks, it worked!" Fireball yelled.

"AZ-99, detonate the EMP bombs around Groves's ship." Hicks ordered.

AZ-99 pressed a button on a remote control and there was a very loud crash of electricity.

"God damn! What did you two do? Place 4 dozen of those EMP bombs?" Teresa asked.

"Try six dozen!" Hard-case corrected.

Hicks was a very serious man, but even he thought that amount of over kill was funny.

"Hold on to something! Were about to enter hyper space." Fireball informed.

"What? But we're still in earth's atmosphere" AX reminded.

The ship began to hum very loudly and suddenly then there was a very loud crash as the _BLOCADE _ripped throw the atmosphere at light speed.

Thrasher was not expecting the sudden change of speed and was thrown off his feet, and hit the wall hard.

"Oh Thrasher, are you ok?" Teresa asked as she got out of her seat to check on Thrasher.

Thrasher got up and announced he was fine. Fortunately he didn't get cut, so no acid blood damage to the ship.

"Fireball is there anyone on us?" Hicks asked.

"Of course not, that was insane! No one would be stupid enough to try what I just did." Fireball said confidently.

"No shit!" Teresa yelled.

"Fireball, where are we going?" Hicks asked.

"Well sense you were not sure about where to go I came up with an idea." Fireball started." I have a massive cruiser hidden in the reaches of space where no one will find it. I call it the _STAR SPANGLED._" Fireball finished.

Katya and Teresa giggled at the patriotic name. Hicks just rolled his eyes.

"How far is it?" AX-95 asked

"Six hours." Fireball answered.

"Oh Jesus. Does anyone have a deck of cards?" Hicks asked trying to be funny.

Meanwhile USCM base

The loud crash woke up Dr. Groves he went to turn the lights on, but the ship was shorted out.

Groves threw on his clothes and ran out of his Ship to see what happened.

It did not take Groves long to think about the Xenomorph. He began to run down the tunnel to the holding cell only to see Thrasher was gone. "Mr. Weyland is going to have my head for this!" Groves yelled.

Groves ran back to the ship to try to fix the computers so he could track the Xenomorph, but to no avail. An hour passed with Groves trying to repair the computer. Suddenly he heard a very familiar voice ask. "Dr. Groves?" It was Mr. Weyland.


End file.
